“Are you free this evening? My best friend Tasha wants to meet you. A dinner will probably be easiest.”
“No problem,” he says, toasting a bagel for himself. “I’m flexible. Not really doing anything for the next eight weeks until I have to meet the guys in Dallas.” He brings the warm, browned bagel to the counter on a paper towel.
“What are you meeting them for?”
“To work, brainstorm, think about where we’re going next. The usual.” He shrugs.
Right. The band does their main work in Dallas, so it makes sense he’s going to be up there. I wonder if I should go too, then decide to think about that later because I have to complete the commissioned pieces first. “By the way, are you on Facebook?” I ask. “Not some official thing your PR team handles for you, but an account that’s really you.”
“Yeah. Why?” He bites into his breakfast.
“Because the town has a secret group, and I thought…” I stop. An important celebrity like him wouldn’t want to bother with a small-town social group on Facebook, especially when he isn’t going to be around for more than a year.
“What?”
“It’s not important.”
“If you’re asking me if I want to join, the answer is, it depends. Are they going to act like they’re my best buds from way back when? Then the answer is a big fat no.”
“Never mind, then,” I say. Some people would totally behave that way, especially the town’s mayor and the high school football coach. Actually, the coach’s ego is so big, he’d act like he’s the one doing Devlin a favor by becoming his Facebook friend.
“Anything else?” Devlin says. “You look like you have other things on your mind.”
“It’s about our marriage. So far, the news hasn’t leaked, but we should say something, don’t you think?”
“It hasn’t? You sure?” Raising a finger, he shoves the last bite of bagel into his mouth and goes upstairs. When he returns, he’s holding his phone. “My wedding story went live yesterday.”
“Oh.”
“It’s okay, though. They didn’t name the bride.”
“Surprising that they’re nice enough to respect my privacy.” At least only some people in Drover know, not the entire world, thank God. I don’t need that level of attention and publicity.
He snorts. “Yeah, right. When Martians crash-land in Wyoming. They’re probably just trying to milk the story by releasing your name later. Regardless, let’s just hope something juicier hits the news first, and everyone forgets about it.”
“Should we make a statement?” I say. Maybe pre-empting the media and crafting our own narrative would work better.
He wipes a napkin across his already clean mouth and takes another sip of coffee. “Leave all that up to me. It’s my area of expertise.”
Hmm. Why am I skeptical? “Aren’t you a drummer?”
“Best drummer around. But don’t worry, I got this.” He taps his phone a few times, then clears his throat and smiles into the camera. “Hey, everyone, Dev here. Today’s a beautiful day. It’s raining outside, but that doesn’t matter. I’m with my wonderful bride, so everything’s perfect.
“Just so you all know, yes, it’s true. I’m happily married to the most beautiful, wonderful woman in the whole world. I’m on a well-deserved break right now. Love you all!” He mock-kisses the phone, then taps it a few more times.
“What was that about?” I ask.
“A quick live video to my Facebook page. Should solve the announcement problem.”
“Well, I suppose it does.” I find myself a little shocked. “Should you really have said all that, though?”
“About what?”
“About how happily you are married and all that? I mean, we’re going to divorce in a year,” I tell him, in case he forgot. Although I can’t imagine how that would be possible, since he was so adamant about an instant divorce.
“Yeah, but we can’t act like we’re going to divorce in a year if we want everyone to think it’s real, right?” He pats my shoulder. “Trust me, I know what I’m doing.”
I just nod. I have nothing to add, and it wasn’t like he said anything objectionable in the video.